2-1-18 Valentine Countdown Blitz With Rafflecopter Giveaway Day 4

ZINA ABBOTT
is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her adult Golden Oaks series which
includes Family Secrets, the first book in the series, and her historical
novels.

Except for
the first year of her life, Robyn has lived in California. She started her
young life in San Diego and has had gradually moved northward. She has been
writing since she was in junior high school.

After
working several jobs, including that of being a rural carrier and union steward
for the California Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, she has spent years
learning and teaching family history topics. She enjoys focusing on history
from a genealogist’s perspective by seeking out the details of everyday life in
the past. Several of her family history articles have been published in
genealogy magazines.

She resides
with her husband in California near the “Gateway to Yosemite.” When
she is not piecing together novel plots and characters, she enjoys piecing
together quilt blocks.

In 1868, Otto Atwell has a 160 acre
homestead near Abilene, Kansas and a limp as a result of an arrow shot in his
low back while with the 16th Kansas Cavalry on the Powder River Expedition in
1865. What he doesn’t have is a wife. Then again, what woman would want to
marry a cripple?

Libby Jones comes to Junction City as a mail order bride. Not
only does the man who sent for her reject her, he tries to sell her to the
local brothel to recoup his fee. Otto offers to marry her, but she rejects him
in favor of a job with his relatives.

Will Otto’s offer still stand when
trouble from Libby’s past catches up with her?

1.Tell
us about things you enjoy — what you do for fun or personal satisfaction
besides writing?

I enjoy driving into the mountains
to sightsee and take photos. I also enjoy going to one or two seminars a year
so I can tour along the way and while I’m there. I’m also a quilter.

2.What
is the thing you struggle with the most while writing? And how do you defeat
it?

I want to write more novels than
what I have time to do. I try to be more realistic with my scheduling. I have
been looking at ways to market more effectively without spending an excessive
amount of time on social media.

3.What
are your future projects?

I have an 80K book written that I
need to do rewrites on after getting feedback from a cultural sensitivity beta
reader. I have another novel written that needs some rewrites, then it gets
published. I have a new adult series I published under my real name that needs
the next book written. I also hope to write more books for two series—one my
own and one sponsored by the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog.

4.What
is the “message” of your writing?

I write sweet historical romance,
but I often touch on gritty, sensitive issues such as the one in Otto’s Offer. I often write about legal
and cultural barriers women faced in the past. Even though many today feel
those times are over, I don’t wish my women readers to forget (1) many of those
legal disadvantages still existed during my lifetime, and (2) the glass ceiling
and other forms of discrimination against women may not be as oppressive now,
but they are still there. Don’t lose the legal, social and cultural ground we
have gained.

5.Are
your characters/stories/scenes, etc. based on anything in real life?

I try for more depth than many
romance authors in that I will incorporate actual historical events in my books
in addition to the developing romantic relationship and the angst. One example
is the history of the American Civil War-era 16th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry that
plays a role in Otto’s Offer. Another
entire book series I wrote is set in 1884 Mono County, California east of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains. The plots in most of those books are based on actual
historical events and conditions of the involved communities. Those who read my
books risk learning something.

6.Have
you done anything writing-related, besides actually writing your books, that
seemed to get a lot of positive response? Something that encouraged you?

I’m a blogger. I need to write more
for my Zina Abbot Books blog—another goal for this year—but in the meantime I post
monthly on three group blogs. One group blog, Sweet Americana Sweethearts, I
started two and a half years ago for the purpose of promoting sweet secular
romance novels set in North America between 1820 and 1929. As of now, fifteen
other sweet romance authors (some are Christian authors) take one day a month
to share historical information and spotlight their published books. This blog
has its own Twitter account, book club group on Facebook, and we have sponsored
several book series for those of our authors who wish to participate. It takes
far more time than I would like to administer these activities. However, I feel
gratified that I am helping to promote American historical romances that meet sweet
standards and are often inspirational, as well as other authors besides myself
who write them.

To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page